Page 16 of King of Ashes (Kingdom of Sinners #4)

PHOENIX

M y brothers' voices echo in my head as I descend the stairs to the basement. Their questions and comments are impossible to wave away. We’ve been one mind since the night our parents were murdered by the Keans.

Now, we’re fracturing. Ash is angry that he can’t kill Hampton.

Blaise and Flint disapprove of how I’m treating Keira.

In the end, what they want or think isn’t important.

I’m the head of this family. I have been since my father died.

Whether they agree or not doesn’t matter.

The basement door creaks as I push it open. Cold air rushes up to meet me, carrying the musty scent of concrete. Two armed men stand at attention, nodding as I approach.

I make my way down the hall to where Hampton and his wife are being held.

"Leave us," I command the two men outside their door.

They exit without question. The power feels good, intoxicating even. After a decade of exile, of rebuilding from nothing, Boston is bending to my will. The Ifrinn name still carries weight, still commands respect. Our birthright was never forgotten, merely borrowed by unworthy hands.

I pause at the door, collecting myself. Hampton and Lana Kean. The architects of my family's destruction. The people who tried to erase us from existence.

The people who raised Keira.

My jaw tightens at the thought of her. The way she dropped to her knees yesterday, calling my bluff. The flash of defiance in her eyes even as she pretended to submit. It was a move I didn't anticipate, a reminder that she's not the same girl I knew ten years ago.

I unlock the door and step inside. I savor their misery. Hampton sits with his arm around Lana, both looking like deflated versions of the power couple that once ruled Boston.

Hampton's expression hardens when he sees me. "Come to finish the job?"

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." I lean against the wall. "Consider yourselves lucky that you're more valuable alive."

Lana's eyes dart to mine. "Where's Keira? What have you done with her?"

Something in her tone catches my attention. Not the concern of a mother for her daughter, but something colder. Calculating.

"She's fine. Planning our wedding, actually."

“We gave her to you and now you need to let us go,” Lana insists.

Something in my gut twists as my brothers’ doubt about Keira and the question about whether Hampton proposed the marriage to my father who turned it down, prompting retaliation. What if all that is true?

“Do you want her back? I’m happy to send her and the kid down here.”

“You think you’re so much better than us, but you’re not.” Hampton's face contorts with rage.

"Careful," I cut him off. "Remember your position. You're alive because I allow it."

“What would your father think?” Lana straightens, attempting dignity despite her circumstances.

“Well, I can’t be sure because you killed him.”

“He was better than this, Phoenix. Surely, you aspire to be like him.”

I shrug. “I don’t know. He ended up dead.” The truth is, I’d love to have my father’s approval. I’d love to know if he’s proud of how I looked out for Flint, Blaise, and Ash and helped them become men.

“You’ve won. Why torture us?” Lana asks.

“Torture. You think this is torture?” My anger rises at the gall. “How about I light a match and you can burn to death? Would that be better?”

She huddles against Hampton.

Hampton's jaw tightens. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

“For one, this is my house. Two, I wanted to check on my future in-laws. I’m thinking of letting you attend.”

Lana's eyes shine with hope. “I can help Keira with the plans?—”

“No. But we’re planning quite the celebration and I’m thinking you should be there.”

“Yes, of course?—”

“It’s a power play, dear,” Hampton interrupts his wife. “He needs to show everyone we’re under his thumb to get their loyalty.”

I tap my nose. “Of course, I could show them your dead bodies instead.”

“Keira would never forgive you if you killed us.”

“What do I care if she forgives me? This is business.”

Lana shifts uncomfortably. "When will we be released?"

"That depends." I push off from the wall, stepping closer. "The wedding will coincide with a loyalty ceremony. Every family in Boston will pledge allegiance to the Ifrinn name, with you two serving as the perfect example of what happens to those who betray us."

“You’re overconfident, Phoenix. You can’t?—”

"I can do whatever I want." I lean down until we're eye-level. "You took everything from me. Now I'm taking it all back, with interest."

Hampton lunges forward, but his weakened state makes it pathetic. I don't even flinch.

"Save your strength," I say, straightening. "You'll need it for your public humiliation."

Lana grabs Hampton's arm, pulling him back. There's calculation behind her eyes, the wheels turning as she searches for leverage. It tells me she’s no victim in this situation. Just like Keira isn’t.

"When will we be released?" she asks again, her voice strained with forced composure.

"When the police are ready to arrest you. You’ve been a very naughty boy. Extortion. Racketeering. Murder. Including the murder of my parents. It’s that last one that is saving your asses. Without justice for my parents’ deaths, there’d be no deal. I’d be the one enacting justice."

Hampton’s face reddens until I’m worried it might explode. "That's not the agreement! You said you'd spare us if Keira married you."

"I said I'd spare your lives," I correct him. "And I have. Prison is better than the alternative I had planned."

"You son of a bitch," Hampton seethes. "You think you've won?”

“Yes. I do. I’ve beaten you. I have my property back and shortly, all the businesses. I have your daughter under my thumb. I think that’s the very definition of winning.”

They are quiet for a moment. “Keira is no innocent,” Lana says.

I’m curious about where she’s going with this. “I know. I’m the one who fucked her.”

She flinches at my vulgarity. I push down the kernel of self-loathing that takes root in my stomach at making my relationship with Keira back then sound sordid.

Lana resets her composure. “She’s lying to you.”

My interest piques. “Is she? About what?”

“Don’t waste your time.” Hampton pats his wife’s thigh.

I can’t believe Hampton would be protecting Keira so I wonder why he’s not rubbing whatever he knows in my face. Could it be they’re hoping Keira can arrange their freedom? I’ve given her free reign of the house. Has she been down to see them? Have they begun plotting an escape?

Anger builds again at the betrayal. It’s a reminder that Keira isn’t the woman I thought she was.

"No, let her speak," I say, stepping closer. "I'm curious what lies Keira is spinning now."

“It’s nothing.” Lana shirks back.

I draw my gun in one fluid motion, and I level it at Hampton's forehead. “What lies? Or we could handle this the Hampton Kean way.”

The color drains from Hampton's face. Lana makes a strangled sound, pressing herself against him.

"That's what you did to my parents, isn't it?" I continue, stepping closer until the barrel nearly touches Hampton's skin. "No warning. No mercy. Just fire and blood and screams in the night."

My finger caresses the trigger, and I'm surprised by how steady my hand is. Ten years I've waited for this moment. Ten years of nightmares and rage and planning.

"Phoenix," Lana whispers, her voice trembling. "Please."

"Please?" I laugh. "Did my mother say 'please' when your men poured gasoline through our home? Did my father beg when they lit the match?"

Hampton swallows hard. The arrogance that defined him for decades has vanished, replaced by naked fear.

"Nothing to say now?" I press the cold metal harder against his skin.

“No.” His lips press into a thin line, eyes wide and fixed on mine.

"That's what I thought." I lean in close, my voice barely above a whisper. "Remember this feeling, Hampton. This is how my family felt in their final moments. Helpless. Terrified. At your mercy."

I hold the position for several heartbeats, letting the terror sink in. Letting them feel what it's like to have your life balanced on someone else's whim.

Then I step back, gun still trained on them. As much as I’d like to end them, they’re a part of the plan. And Ash would never forgive me.

"You don't deserve a quick death," I say. "You deserve to watch everything you built crumble. You deserve to live with what you've done."

They don’t respond.

“Keira’s lie?” I prompt again.

Hampton starts to open his mouth, but Lana squeezes his hand and speaks instead. “You weren’t her first.”

If she stabbed me in the gut, it wouldn’t hurt as much as those words. But I swallow it down. “And now? Who is she fucking now?”

They exchange glances and then look at me. “We don’t keep up on Keira’s sex life,” Hampton says.

I take a moment to consider what this could mean. Do they know the man and he’s working for them helping Keira plan an escape?

“I’ll find him and kill him. And don’t worry. Keira will pay too.” I exit the basement, blood pounding in my ears. The door clicks shut behind me, sealing Hampton and Lana back in their concrete tomb. Let them rot there.

I return upstairs and am glad the house is quiet. Staff are going about their work. My brothers are handling business elsewhere. I step into my empty office, shutting the world out. The solitude suits me. Gives me space to think.

Why would Lana think it’s important for me to know I wasn’t Keira’s first?

To knock down my ego? Make me jealous? It could backfire and cause me to reject Keira, which they don’t want unless they don’t care about Keira.

They never seemed like a warm, loving family, so I suppose that’s a possibility.

Perhaps they’re just being assholes, not wanting to see Keira survive the ordeal.